Dark Sky Tourism
Learn how Oregon’s pristine dark skies can be a sustainable tourism asset in your destination.
Celebrating, protecting and visiting “dark sky” areas is a growing worldwide phenomenon – and that’s great news, because since the invention of electric streetlights and the use of artificial light at night (ALAN), we are losing the natural darkness of night literally at the speed of light. In fact, it’s estimated that 80% of Americans and nearly 33% of all humanity can no longer see the Milky Way from home.
Unlike states east of the Mississippi River and our neighbors to the north and south, Oregon is fortunate to have an abundance of dark skies. In fact, much of Eastern Oregon comprises the majority of the largest and most pristine dark sky zone in the contiguous United States.
DARK SKY TOURISM IS SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Sustainable travel is a form of travel that aims to sustain or enhance the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of residents. Dark sky tourism checks all the sustainability boxes. It even disperses visitors geographically, seasonally, and over the course of a day. The positive environmental, cultural, and economic effects of dark sky tourism most often extend well beyond a given site. Dark sky tourism may even provide opportunities for regenerative tourism – that is, visitors may have a positive impact on a destination, eventually leaving it in better condition than they found it.
DEFINITIONS
Astrotourism –Tourism that focuses on sky-related tourist activities, such as stargazing, astrophotography, chasing eclipses and auroras, and visiting facilities related to astronomy, like observatories and planetariums.
Dark sky tourism – Tourism that includes astrotourism and other special night-time activities, including moon-bathing, nocturnal creature guided tours, indigenous and cowboy storytelling, night sky inspired artistic events, and more.
DARK SKY RESOURCES
- Oregon Dark Sky Tourism Toolkit
- Dark Sky Tourism Session at 2022 Oregon Governor’s Conference on Tourism (video)
- Lighting Inventory Field Form
- Example Lighting Inventory Manual
- Example Complete Light Inventory Form
- Dark Sky Presentation at Oregon Tourism Commission Briefing (June 2023, presentation starts at 10:50)
- Example Annotated Outline of a Dark Sky Community Application (word doc version available by request)
- Central Oregon Dark Sky Guide